A Zinger From 1877
It is doubtful if by strict search through the files of the various courts of this state a judgment was ever before rendered in favor of a party upon a document, called “petition,” that would begin to compare in worthlessness…
Legal Writing
Captain Justice Responds to Government’s Motion to Ban the Word “Government”
Terrific.
“Such an Abuse [of the Page Limitations] Is Not in Any Sort to be Tolerated”
Here’s a 400-year-old tradition that should absolutely be revived.
Attorney: “The Training I Received at Hustler Was Extremely Helpful” in Law School
Susannah Breslin, who is a contributor at Forbes.com, has posted her interview with Dan Kapelovitz, who is currently a criminal-law attorney but previously worked at Hustler magazine. See "How A Porn Magazine Editor Became A Criminal Law Attorney," Forbes.com (Apr. 17, 2003)….
Australian Experts Report First Known Quintuple Negative
A person whose native language is said to be English created the following sentence recently: The grounds of appeal announced on Monday state Justice Sifris erred in not finding Mr Goldberg was wrong in failing to set aside the summonses….
How to Start a Brief
Or how not to.
Defendant Seeks New Trial Based on Ineffective Assistance of Somebody Else’s Counsel
Surprisingly, a man convicted of murdering his entire family has lost his bid for a new trial despite his argument that defense counsel's conduct was so "public and obnoxious" it hurt his case. This already weak argument (see Jerry Sandusky's…
“A Real Snor’easter”: The Best Supreme Court Review There Is
I don’t know what John Elwood did to the people at SCOTUSblog to get himself sentenced to the task of reviewing the list of cases that the Supreme Court has either relisted or held, meaning it has not yet made…
There She Blows! ‘Tis the Contract for Moby Dick!
Agreement made between Harper and Brothers of the city of New York, Publishers, of the one part and Herman Melville of Pittsfield Massachusets [sic] of the other part, witnesseth— That the said Harper and Brothers have agreed to publish and…
It Was the Curb’s Fault [Updated]
From a Courthouse News summary of a case recently filed in San Francisco, including a sentence presumably taken from the complaint: Paulina H. v. Flyers Energy LLC et al., CGC-12-525132 (S.F. Superior Ct. filed Oct. 15, 2012) Trip and fall. The unmarked raised…